Slouching Towards Bethlehem
by Anatheia
Summary: "Lets take the raft and go- Just you and me, Sora!" Kairi knows something's not right in Riku's mind.


Kairi watched the boys race away. She'd heard what Riku said...about the Paopu fruit. How whoever won got to share it with her. She'd turned beet red behind their backs, but when she yelled "GO!" Sora ran as gamely as Riku did. They were always racing, competing...and Riku always won. Sora always tried hard, but Riku was just...good at everything. It was his least admirable quality...Kairi would know, she's been torn between the two of them since she was five years old and woke up in the Destiny Islands.

The Mayor adopted Kairi; he was childless, and his wife died when Kairi was still little from sickness. She had only one memento of her childhood; a drop shaped pendant she never took off; she slept and showered with the trinket on. It was important, somehow. She couldn't say why. She just felt...safer with it on. And lately, that wasn't the only thing that made her feel safer.

Two weeks ago, Riku suddenly said "Let's build a raft! Sail out to sea...reach for different worlds. We'll reach the edge of this one, and sail on to the next." he stated, and they'd gamely agreed, thinking, childishly, that Riku was playing a game. But he was serious. They'd joked about all the things they might find, laughing excitedly. But there had been a light in his eyes...a kind of manic excitement. It had frightened her. Now, Kairi did her best not to be alone with Riku. There was something...dark about him, now. Like a strange hunger had awoken inside him, reaching for distant lands, as if to devour them.

Sora, on the other hand...never seemed to change. Bright smile, sunny disposition, and nothing could really keep him down for very long. Not even Riku's strange new attitude. Sora beat Riku by only a jump, landing in front of her with a big grin. "The raft will be called 'Excalibur'!" he declared, and she laughed, clapping. He grinned at her, and Riku nodged him lightly, nodding towards the ledge. "I'm gonna go to the raft!" Kairi stated, and moved away so they could talk.

As she jumped down off the ledge, she hesitated. "You know I was just joking about the Paopu fruit and Kairi, right?" Riku was saying, and she didn't hear Sora's reply as she took off. The boys spoke, then Sora joined him, and she smiled, giving him a long list of things to gather. Riku, being enthusiastic about the trip, had gotten all of his provisioning done earlier. Sora nodded excitedly, and took off, wooden sword stuck through the back of his belt. It made her smile a little.

"Isn't fourteen a little old to play with swords?" she'd asked Riku lightly, just a day earlier. "We don't play." he replied calmly, not looking at her, but looking out over the water instead, as if his eyes could pierce the horizon. "Sora's only doing it because you do." she said, and this time, he gave her a kind of hard look. "Sora's doing it because Sora GETS it." he said, and she swallowed, looking away. "I'd get it if you would bother explaining." she said bitterly, and he looked out into the distance again.

"I won't waste my time. You have no true desire to leave this world behind...find the secrets of the worlds out beyond our waters...even if you may have come from one yourself. You just won't understand...nor will you really care." he stated, then finally looked at her again, as if measuring her hurt by her facial expression. "I care! I'm getting on the stupid raft, aren't I?!" she demanded angrily, and hopped down from the Paopu Palm, and stormed across the bridge. As she jumped down to the sand to go find Sora, she heard his voice again. "I never said you had to come, Kairi. Sora and I will go without you, if that's what you want." he stated, and it hurt her heart to hear him say it. Sora WOULD go.

He'd say "But I can't let Riku go into danger alone!" or "But I'd miss him, he's my best friend!"...then she would be the bad guy, telling him to stay safe with her instead. Sora would go out of kindness and worry. Riku was going for himself. It had nothing to do with recovering Kairi's former identity. All she knew was her name, and that she came from a vastly different place than this. But where it was, who she was...why she left...all a blur.

Kairi dragged her shoes along the sand, kicking up several thalassa shells, and she remembered an old story about them. People would make them into necklaces and charms for safe journeys, and to help them find their ways home. She'd make some, and give the first one to Sora. So he'd know she was thinking of him. That she wanted him to come home again some day. Smiling a little, she picked up the shells, and sat down on the raft, picking up a spare length of string to make the charm. She was good at this. Her adoptive mother had shown her how.

"Tired? Want to call it a day?" she asked as Sora flopped into the sand, his arms overloaded. He graoned. "Yeah. Let's go home." he stated. "Okay. Tomorrow's the big day; we should rest up!" she smiled, and offered him a hand, pulling him to his feet. "Hey, let's watch the sunset! That's restful." Sora stated, and dragged her by the hand out to the Paopu palm and it's silly sideways trunk. They sat on the edge of the platform instead, side by side. They sat there in silence for a while, before she spoke.

"You know...Riku had changed." she said solemnly, and Sora jumped to his friend's defense gamely. "What do you mean?" he asked, slightly surprised. Kairi was quiet for a moment. The light in Riku's eyes...sometimes, it frightened her. There was something inside him, screaming to escape. That thing in him...that hunger. "Well..." she began, trying to figure out how to tell him what Riku had said to her. "You okay?" Sora asked worriedly, and she smiled suddenly. "Sora, let's take the raft and go- Just the two of us!" she said quickly, watching his face. The shock was evident. "Huh?!" he managed, and she backpedaled with a blush. "Just Kidding!" she laughed quickly, and Sora shook his head.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked, smiling a little as she rose. "You're the one that's changed, Kairi." he said, and she smiled back. She had changed. She could feel something in the air, like a kind of electricity. Like a storm was approaching. "Maybe... You know...I was a little afraid at first...but now I'm ready. No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here, right?" she asked, and looked at him. Sora beamed. "Yeah, of course!" he stated, and climbed to his feet. Kairi giggled.

"That's good. Sora...Don't ever change." she said firmly. He blinked, confused. "Huh?" he said, and she chuckled. "I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great." she murmured. She could only pray that Riku's thirst for the worlds outside their own would be satisfied without getting them all in trouble.

They rowed their boats, side by side, back to the big island, and then Kairi rowed up the shore to the dock behind her house, one of the biggest in the town. She tied the boat up, and bounced up the dock, then the stairs, into the house. She smiled at her adopted father, and took the stairs up to her room two by two, grabbing her backpack. She packed it with some clothes for their 'trip', and wrote a note to the man downstairs, telling him not to worry, and that she would be home soon. Then she opened her window for some air, and went back downstairs for dinner.

The storm woke Kairi, but it was something else that made her grab her clothes and get dressed, running down to the dock, and into her boat. She unhitched it, and squinted against the wind as she looked towards their island. Yes, in that flash of lightning...a white haired figure in a boat. Riku was going out to the island on his own! She rowed frantically; a horrible feeling haunted her heart.

"Riku...please don't go anywhere without Sora...You could get lost!" she whispered frantically, rowing as hard as she could. She tied her boat, and staggered down the dock, running towards the shack that lead up to the Paopu Palm island. She could see Riku staring out towards the water, a great blackness tearing apart the sky.

"Riku!" she shouted, and he turned, looking at her stoicly for a moment. Then he smiled, and held out his hand. "I'm not afraid, Kairi...the Darkness doesn't frighten me anymore. There's a doorway here...It's open now. We can go to the other worlds...find where you came from." he stated. "That's not why you want to go, is it? It's not about me...you just said that so Sora would follow you!" she accused. Riku frowned.

"Someone gave me something once...like a promise. A key to the worlds beyond...he said no ocean would be able to contain me. No boundaries above or below...and I mean to see those worlds, Kairi...with our without you and Sora." he said darkly. "But don't give up who you are to see them, Riku! You can't do this!" Kairi cried out. Riku turned from the strange darkness gathering on the sands, and walked towards her, guiding her back down the bridge by her arm, which he gripped tightly.

"You can't come with me, Kairi...your heart is too light for this road. But there's another door you can take. I'll show you." Riku said soothingly, dragging her into the path to the Secret Place. Kairi struggled against his grasp, but it was like iron. "Riku, you're scaring me!" she gasped, and he smiled. "Don't be scared, Kairi...I'll show you what I can see." he stated, and she stared past him.

There was a door; in front of the door, a lumpy figure in a hooded brown robe. "Who...who is that?!" she gasped. "A friend. He's the one who showed me the way to open the door." Riku murmured. "I don't want to go, Riku. I want to stay here, with my dad, and you and Sora! Don't MAKE me go over there, Riku!" Kairi struggled against his grasp, and he squeezed her arm tighter, making her whimper.

"Look through the door, Kairi...I can show you where you were born...you're a princess of Heart, Kairi. This is a door to your past." Riku stated. "I don't want it! Let me GO!" She shouted, and yanked her arm free, running away, back towards the boats. Suddenly, that lumpy misshapen figure was in front of her, and a hand that was not quite a hand grabbed her throat.

She felt cold, and weak, and as she gazed into the emptiness beneath the hood, Kairi thought she could see bright orange eyes; frightening and cruel. "Sora..." She whispered, and when the figure let her go, she stood numbly, unable to move. Riku hugged her gently. "Don't worry, Kairi...I'll take care of Sora." he murmured, and as he left her standing in the Secret Place, Kairi couldn't even weep.


End file.
